Rideau Hall, Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Welcome to Rideau Hall, the home of the people of Canada.

I am delighted to participate in this first-ever presentation of the Governor General’s Academic All-Canadian Commendation. This is an important distinction, and one for which each of the 2 695 recipients across Canada has worked tenaciously.

And we are privileged to have with us today the top eight recipients of this distinction. Thank you all for your presence, and for representing a happy band of 2 695 warriors.

Having spent much of my life in a university setting, as a student, professor and administrator, I know how much effort and dedication is required of student-athletes.

To achieve the honour of being called an academic all-Canadian requires a great deal of discipline and tenacity, both on the field of play and in the classroom.

I often speak of the importance of two things that you exemplify: learning and physical fitness. And what I find so interesting is that the latest brain science tells us that these two abilities are in fact closely linked.

Researchers have shown that poor physical fitness weakens the connections between neurons and shrinks the hippocampus, which is essential to learning and memory.

According to a recent study reported in the New Scientist, exercise among seniors had the result of expanding the hippocampi and restoring neural communication across the brain to that of the level of a 30-year-old. A mild exercise routine resulted in a cognitive boost and heightened attention span—both of which are keys to learning.

The implications of such findings are significant, particularly given the incidence of obesity and cardiovascular disease in our society.

The discovery of a link between exercise and our ability to learn also means that, while in some ways you must work hard to balance sports with school, in another sense physical activity actually boosts your ability to think and retain information.

This is also an ancient truth. Aristotle wrote about the happy combination of healthy bodies and healthy minds.

As people who care about athletics and education, we cannot afford to ignore these and the many other findings that point to the link between mind and body.

To the eight recipients of the Academic All-Canadian Commendation here with us today, I would like to say how impressed I am by your accomplishments.

You show us that excellence in study and sport can be triumphantly and mutually inclusive. You demonstrate daily that, with the right attitude and a sound work ethic, academics and athletics can strengthen one another. 

Your respective schools are rightly proud of your dedication.

I want to end with the one word of thanks. Thank you for the standard you set. You are changing the culture of our country, encouraging healthy bodies, healthy minds and healthy communities, all summing up to a smart, caring and robust Canada.

Please keep setting the standard, changing the culture and raising the bar.

Congratulations on earning this honour.